California's legal marijuana industry is expected to involve everything from backyard growers to sprawling fields in the farm belt, storefront sellers along rural roads to chain-store like outlets in Los Angeles.

Massachusetts voters on Nov. 8 overwhelmingly approved the legalization of recreational marijuana. The new law will take effect Dec. 15, but there are still some questions concerning regulation, possession, and distribution.

Weed is winning in the polls, with a solid majority of Americans saying marijuana should be legal. But does that mean the federal government will let dozens of state pot experiments play out? Not by a long shot.

Some 30 counties and cities in Oregon approved some type of marijuana businesses in last week's election, and officials in those communities now must establish rules for every step in the production and supply chain.

The marijuana legalization movement scored its biggest victory yet Tuesday as voters in California, Massachusetts and Nevada approved recreational pot, making the drug fully legal in the nation's most populous state and giving ...

Nov 09, 2016

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Medical cannabis

Medical cannabis (commonly referred to as "medical marijuana") refers to the use of the Cannabis plant as a physician-recommended drug or herbal therapy, as well as synthetic tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other cannabinoids. There are many studies regarding the use of cannabis in a medicinal context. Use generally requires a prescription, and distribution is usually done within a framework defined by local laws. There are several methods for administration of dosage, including vaporizing or smoking dried buds, drinking or eating extracts, and taking synthetic THC pills. The comparible efficacy of these methods was the subject of an investigative study by the National Institutes of Health.

Medicinal use of cannabis is legal in a limited number of territories worldwide, including Canada, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, Israel, Finland, and Portugal. In the United States, 13 states have recognized medical marijuana: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington; although California, Colorado, New Mexico and Rhode Island are currently the only states to utilize "dispensaries" to sell medical cannabis.

Seven U.S. states are currently considering medical marijuana bills in their legislatures: Illinois, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and North Carolina. South Dakota also has several petitions in interest of medical marijuana legalization.

Cannabis has a long history of medicinal use in many cultures. The U.S. federal government, as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services, holds a patent for medical marijuana. Yet, medical cannabis remains a controversial issue worldwide. The Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution allowed the government to ban the use of cannabis, including medical use; the Food and Drug Administration states that "marijuana... has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States".